BMC64 vs Frodo

BMC64 is a free, bare-metal Commodore 64 emulator for selected Raspberry Pi boards. Its bundled release also emulates the C128, VIC-20, Plus/4 and PET, including C64 PAL and NTSC variants. It uses VICE, with Plus4Emu available on Raspberry Pi 3 for more accurate Plus/4 emulation. Frames are timed to 50/60 Hz display refresh for smooth scrolling, and the project advertises low input-to-audio/video latency. A reported C64 boot over composite takes 4.1 seconds, with no shutdown sequence required. Wi-Fi and Ethernet support uses such as BBS access and C64 OS networking. Installation involves writing a release ZIP or image to a FAT32 SD card. Required ROM files must come from a legal source, and the minimum C64 ROM set is needed to start. Supported boards are Pi Zero, Zero 2W, Pi 2 and Pi 3; Pi 4 and later are unsupported. An optional local-network web interface manages status and SD-card files and can use a PIN.

Frodo is a free, portable Commodore 64 emulator for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It focuses on reproducing special graphical effects from the C64 and supports disk and tape software, many game cartridges, and formats including D64, G64, T64, TAP, X64, and LYNX. It offers a cycle-exact regular mode and Frodo Lite, a less compatible version intended to run better on slower machines. The official site lists V4.5, which adds Datasette TAP emulation and support for banked cartridges including Ocean, Fun Play, Power Play, Super Games, and Simons' BASIC. TAP emulation is unavailable in Frodo Lite. V4.5 can auto-start disk and tape images, cartridges, and C64 BASIC program files from the command line. Frodo can detect connected controllers for C64 joystick ports and map additional buttons to C64 keys. Display settings include windowed or fullscreen mode and an initial window size. The V4.5 snapshot format changed, so it cannot read snapshots from earlier versions. Frodo is listed under GPL-2.0.